Rajya Sabha - the backdoor entry? (Poll Prattle)

New Delhi, May 2 (IANS) Is the Rajya Sabha a backdoor entry into parliament as opposed to the Lok Sabha? It’s not just the Bharatiya Janata Party that has used such a taunt against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who represents Assam in the upper house. M.K. Stalin, Tamil Nadu’s minister for rural development and local administration and the son of chief minister M. Karunanidhi, is the latest to hurl this jibe at his archrival, PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss.

But Ramadoss is not taking it lying down. Those who live inside glass houses shouldn’t throw stones at others, he told a journalist in Chennai when asked about Stalin’s charge that he entered parliament through the backdoor.

“He (Stalin) should first ask his sister Kanimozhi that question. Then he can ask Indian prime minister Dr. Manmohan Singh. Even Murasoli Maran (Stalin’s uncle) was a Rajya Sabha member.”

“By terming the Rajya Sabha the backdoor for parliament, Stalin is demeaning the institution. We will raise this issue in parliament after elections,” Ramadoss said.

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Deve Gowda and the dance show

This is hectic campaigning time for politicians, but that didn’t stop former prime minister and Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) president H.D. Deve Gowda from turning up for a dance performance.

He flew into Delhi from Karnataka after a gruelling election campaign to watch the debut Bharatanatyam dance show of Kampana Bittalli, the 14-year-old daughter of his personal assistant B.R. Chandrashekhar.

He spent over an hour at the auditorium as Kampana, a Class 9 student, performed various compositions to much applause from the audience.

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A polite request: don’t ask for votes

Residents of Kalka town in Haryana, the gateway to the cool environs of Himachal Pradesh, have made a seemingly polite request to politicians. They have put up banners outside their homes and shops asking leaders not to seek votes.

“Kripya vote maang kar sharminda mat karen” (Please don’t embarrass us by asking for votes) say the banners that have been prominently displayed outside most buildings.

The residents are up in arms against a demolition drive carried out by local authorities against their illegal structures at the orders of a court.

The order was aimed at constructions encroaching upon the busy Chandigarh-Shimla national highway that were resulting in frequent traffic jams. People are upset that politicians did not help when the demolition was being carried out.

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Criticising one turncoat in presence of another

Political turncoats are not hard to find during election time. And turning against them publicly can rebound sometimes - as was the case with Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.

While criticising former Akali Dal MP Sukhdev Singh Libra as a turncoat at an election rally in Fatehgarh Sahib, little did Badal realise that his colleague Bir Devinder Singh was sharing the stage with him. Bir Devinder Singh had recently quit the Congress over the Jagdish Tytler controversy.

Badal went on to publicly denounce turncoats like Libra full steam. Surely Bir Devinder Singh was listening!